Minister for the Interior Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka has disclosed that the ministry has initiated targeted measures to rehabilitate security service personnel currently struggling with drug addiction, as the government moves to block substance-dependent individuals from entering the public sector.

Alhaji ​Muntaka, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asawase, stated that while the ministry is actively helping affected officers overcome dependency, it will no longer allow individuals with drug habits to join the security services or the wider public sector.

​"We are taking steps to help them get out of it," Muntaka said regarding serving officers battling addiction, emphasising, "We are not going to be allowing more people to join when we know they are already on drugs."

​To enforce this stance, the Minister announced that his ministry will soon present an information paper to Cabinet to make pre-employment drug screening a mandatory policy across all public service recruitment.

​The policy shift follows a startling revelation during a recent security service recruitment exercise, where over 6,000 applicants tested positive for various illicit substances. 

Alhaji Muntaka noted that without mandatory screening, thousands of drug-dependent individuals would have been successfully enlisted into the security agencies.

​Speaking at Sakafia Senior High School in the Asawase Constituency during the commissioning of a 12-unit classroom block, a six-seater toilet facility, and a borehole, the Minister also raised concerns over growing drug use in secondary schools. 

He revealed that some students are secretly peddling harmful substances like tramadol and cannabis to their peers.

​He urged school administrators, including headmasters and housemasters, to step up monitoring while warning students against the false belief that drugs enhance academic performance.

​"If somebody deceives you and tells you that taking Indian hemp or tramadol will help you pass your exams... and you end up having a mental health problem, what is the use of that certificate? That certificate becomes useless," he warned.

​Encouraging the youth to resist social pressure and overcome poverty without resorting to substance abuse, Alhaji Muntaka shared his personal experience growing up as the son of a koko (porridge) seller. 

He highlighted that despite his socio-economic challenges, he achieved academic and political success, rising to become a lawmaker and Cabinet Minister, without ever using drugs or alcohol.

The minister also indicated that the nation's security has been strengthened, bringing down armed robberies and making it safer than last year, 2025.